Ride Wit Me
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day forty: Artie conspires with Tina to bring the club together for a jam session throw down .


_So the hiatus is over, I did my twenty-one ficlets and all... but I didn't want to stop ;) So I'm not! I want to see how long I can keep this up, one every day, so off we go :)_

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**"Ride Wit Me"  
Artie/Tina**

The idea had been borne out of disappointment over their group practices… or lack thereof. Leaving class one afternoon, Tina had been telling Artie how much she missed having the whole group together.

"It is different without them," Artie agreed as they moved down the hall.

"It's not G-Glee Club… It's n-not 'New Directions…' It's just… It's n-not right. I m-miss them." Artie stopped and spun his chair to face her.

"So let's do something about it," he nodded. The proposal got her curious.

"How?" she asked. Artie thought about it.

"I'll take the guys, you take the girls, get them to show up in the rehearsal room earlier, all of them." Tina beamed. "Sound good?" He loved seeing her smile.

"Sounds excellent," she held her hand out and he gave a high-five. Neither of them wanted to let go, and for a moment their hands remained joined. After a few seconds, they pulled their hands back to themselves. Artie moved his chair about, while Tina pushed her hair over her shoulder.

"Hey," he nodded to somewhere beyond her. "There's Brittany and Santana. You go take care of them. I can find a few if not all the guys, so… let's go," he waved her off. Tina smirked and she moved to approach Santana and Brittany.

They were a quick buy. She found Quinn next, then Rachel and Mercedes with Kurt. Artie had not yet found him, but he found his other four marks all at once, in the football locker room he'd never been there, and he got a few confused looks for it. Still, the guys were in.

Artie and Tina reunited in the hall, heading for their next class. "Report?" he asked, looking up at her with a smile.

"Six for five," she announced with a nod. He frowned. "I r-ran into K-Kurt," she explained.

"All set?" Artie asked.

"Reunited," she grinned. "We're on." He made a 'yes' fist pump, making her laugh. "W-we have to make sure C-Coach Sylvester doesn't catch us." Artie nodded in agreement.

The afternoon of that next day, Artie and Tina assigned themselves as look outs, parked on either ends of the hall to wave the club members into the rehearsal room. One by one they'd gotten them inside, until finally they'd looked back across the hall, eyes meeting to confirm all of them had arrived, and they'd joined in to enjoy this reunification while they could.

Once Mr. Schuester had arrived, Tina, Artie, and the rest of "Sue's Kids" had moved to leave, knowing this meant their own rehearsal would start soon – they couldn't be late.

As they made their way down the hall with Santana, Kurt, Mike, Mercedes, and Matt, Tina put her hand on Artie's shoulder. He looked up at her, slowing to a stop. "Hey, guys? We'll catch up," he told the others. As they drifted along, Tina and Artie made their way after them at a slower speed. Artie looked at her, waiting on her to talk.

"I w-wanted to say… thank you," she finally spoke, giving a sideway smile.

"It's nothing," he assured her.

"It's not… it's n-not nothing," she shook her head. "It was a r-really sweet thing you d-did. A-and it wasn't just for m-me in the end. We all n-needed it, so… you made all of us r-really happy." He was all smiles.

"Well that all works out pretty good, doesn't it," he told her, all the while thinking that the others' happiness gave her happiness, which gave him his own share of that happiness.

"Do you think w-we'll be stuck like this for a while? With h-half the club doing one thing a-and half doing something else? I-I don't like it."

"I don't like it either," Artie agreed.

"It's supposed t-to be f-fun… it is, b-but…"

"I know," he nodded. "We can just keep having our covert meetings," he played sneaky, lowering his voice.

"We c-can have secret codes," she laughed. He pulled at his ear lobe, presented his index and pinky fingers. "What's that one?" she laughed.

"Jam," he nodded. She nodded back. "Meeting day?" he let her take the next. She gave it a thought. She put a finger to her arm.

"M-Monday, Tuesday," she added a finger. With the next three fingers, "Wednesday, Thursday, F-Friday. Time?" she returned the volley.

"Morning, lunch, or afternoon, one, two, or three taps," he demonstrated. Tina smirked.

"I-I like it," she nodded.

"Good," he smiled. They were silent for a moment. "I don't think it'll last too long. They'll bring us all back together."

"Yeah," she tried to sound hopeful.

"No matter what," he gave her the 'jam' signal, and she beamed.

THE END


End file.
